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We provide links to articles we think will be of interest to our supporters. We are sympathetic to much of the content of what we post, but not to everything. The fact that something has been linked to here does not necessarily mean that we endorse the views expressed in it._____________________

This week, July 25th to 31st, 2016, is the fourth week of the trial at Jaffa military court of Elor Azaria, the baby-faced killer of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, who, with Ramzi al-Qasrawi had knifed a soldier on March 24, causing a minor injury. All Israeli media have been covering it but it is Haaretz which has probed what […]

Israeli leaders may rejoice in the military and diplomatic support they receive internationally. But not one of their friends supports their two-edged policy of building settlements on Palestinian land and demolishing Palestinians homes – also on Palestinian land. There is no peaceable future in this.

The trial of Elor Azaria (see posting for info) has swamped the immature IDF medic with its import. It’s pushed the rift between the IDF and politicians to a dangerous distance. It’s created a public celebration of Arab-murder. It’s created a competition about who is the most patriotic.

Joseph Grim Feinberg looks back at the sort of Jewishness that developed with the labour movement and sideways at the many sorts of Zionism that are discussed in Israel. His own Jewishness thrives on criticism of rigid concepts.

This is about the defiant optimism of one Palestinian developer and young middle-class people in Gaza City (sea, sun and fun). The two curses, the Israeli siege plus three lethal assaults and the ineffective Palestinian leadership plus Hamas aggression are acknowledged.

The detention without charge or trial of Palestinians thought to be enemies of the Israeli state has long been a crude Israeli weapon. Protest about its use – here focusing on Bilal Kayed – is now quicker and more widespread than it was at the start.

That is, in a word, Israeli policy for the lives and homes of Palestinians living in Area C. On the initiative of the Joint List a conference met in the Knesset to debate the matter. Speakers from the UN and EU added their voices to facts provided by B’Tselem.

From being ‘neutral’ on Palestine/Israel, befitting a political outsider who didn’t profess to know anything about the issues Trump has arrived at the necessary presidential position – unstinting support for Israel and its Prime Minister. (In fact, Trump had already professed admiration for both the country and PM three years ago).

Reasons to be cheerful: Ilan Pappe and Ramzy Baroud examine the causes for the Brexit vote and speculate on its effects – which include the loss of the UK from the US-Israel security nexus and of Israel’s voice in the EU and a stand against neoliberal policies.

Facebook has many virtues – let your Mum know you’re OK, keep an eye on your kids, keep in touch with friends, organise a meeting..etc. Its other side is the spewing of hate and persecution of, especially, the socially weak. It’s a popular medium amongst young Palestinians, hence the charge by Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan who, contemptuously, ascribes all Palestinian resistance to the power of Facebook and it’s popular with Israelis who freely make calls for the death of Palestinians.

Muslims and Christians, especially the evangelical sort, actively recruit new members to the faith. Jews under the rule of the Orthodox rabbinate treat many others as not really Jewish and make the path to joining the faith long, arduous and full of obstacles. More and more Israelis are finding non-Orthodox routes to a normal life of marriage, death and what to eat.

Sayed Kashua is invited to speak at a Jewish summer school and is pleased to find an open and appreciative audience. Then the Jewish ’emissaries’ stepped in revealing a stunning lack of knowledge about actuality, from the Nakba to a belief that Arabs kill Jews ‘all the time’.

It was common to refer to all Jews as a tribe – which Bibi still does. He hasn’t noticed that the greatest enemy of the pro-Israel club is the growing population of critical Jews in the US such as Simone Zimmerman who was sacked after a few days as aide to Bernie Sanders because of pro-Israel pressure. Sadly for right wingers, they can find nothing nefarious in Bernie’s past so attack young Simone instead.

This week, July 18th – 24th, 2016, we have the sublime and the ridiculous, the useful if dull, and usual infuriating and desperately sad pieces. There is only one candidate for the sublime category and that is provided by JfJfP’s most esteemed religious Jew, Robert Cohen. He has taken into his head, and heart, to redraft […]

It’s been a shock to Americans to discover how many antisemites there are in the USA. It’s been a particular shock to the dedicatedly pro-Israel Republicans to discover that most of them are attached to the GOP. Trump’s racism and social media have given them new energy.

This language of ‘perverts’ and ‘Nazis’ would not be accepted in any American or W. European public speech. We use it here in protective “_”. Coupling it with another right-wing attack on Israel’s national army would once have put it beyond the pale. Despite the obsession with boundaries, there are no limits of civilised discourse.

A roundtable of Al Shabaka political intellectuals give their thoughts and analysis on moves the US President could make (or not make) that might shift some ground and give support to the fledgling state of Palestine.

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